Bakken Shale – North Dakota/Montana
The May 15 Bakken rig count stood at 17, down from 52 in early March.
During its May 11 earnings call, big Bakken pioneer Continental Resources told investors that it was cutting its May production levels by 70% due to depressed prices and low demand.
Hess Corp. announced it was reducing its Bakken drilling program from six active rigs to one.
Denver/Julesburg (DJ) Basin – Colorado
Just seven rigs were actively drilling in the DJ Basin as of May 15, a 75% reduction since March 1.
Occidental Petroleum announced it was shutting in 9% of its DJ Basin wells and canceling its drilling program in the region for the remainder of 2020. Noble Energy announced it was significantly curtailing its production in the DJ and Permian Basins.
Permian Basin – Texas/New Mexico
The Permian rig count, which regularly exceeded 400 during the most recent boom times, had fallen to just 195 as of May 15.
The results of an aerial survey of the Permian region conducted by EDF and Harvard University found that the flaring and leaking of natural gas amounts to twice the officially-reported volumes.
